Track and Field
On Friday, Jan. 31, UI was in Seattle for the invitational event at the University of Washington. A 19-year school record was broken in the distance medley relay by Katja Pattis, Franziska Stoehr, Leah Holmgren and Constanze Paoli as their team finished with a time of 11:21.29. This time was not only 15 seconds better than the prior record but is also the 17th fastest time in the entire nation.
A couple Vandals had their best performances this weekend. Graduate student Sam Fulbright finished the 3K in a career time of 8:19.75 and followed that time with a 4.16.76 mile the following day. Junior Abigail Thomas also had her best time in the 3K distance race, finishing with a time of 10:03.50.
Sunday at the Inland Northwest Invitational in Spokane, Junior Mia Sylvester finished first in the shot put with a mark of 14.6 meters, the second longest distance in the Big Sky. Senior Noah Culbertson finished third in the shot put with 16.4 meters, which meant UI represented two of the top three in the event.
Tennis
UI Women’s Tennis hosted their first match this last weekend as they welcomed in the BYU Cougars. The games took place inside the P1FCU Kibbie Dome and the Vandals fell 4-3, snapping a two-game win streak. The Cougars swept doubles play taking the early 1-0 lead as the match shifted to singles. Each school won three matches in singles play but because of the 3-0 sweep by BYU in doubles, they took the overall match by a 4-3 decision.
Junior Valentina Rodas, by far, had the best performance for the Vandals, sweeping her singles match and holding her opponent to just three wins in each set. Sophomore Lena Beckx and sophomore Ida Johansson, despite dropping their doubles match also played very hard and forced their BYU counterparts to win an additional game to take the 7-5 win.
Both men’s and women’s tennis will be back in action coming up. Women will be in the Midwest as they take on the University of Nebraska (Omaha) on Feb. 8, then the Creighton Bluejays the next day. Men will be in out west in California for a matchup with Saint Mary’s on Feb. 8 and Santa Clara University on Feb. 9. Both the men and women are 2-2 this season.
You can reach Jackson Hamelund at [email protected]